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ASUU  will continue with strike until FG  honours agreements with union – Don

ASUU
By Edeki Igafe
Warri (Delta), March 25, 2020 (NAN) The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it will not suspend its ongoing strike until the Federal Government honours its agreements with the union.
Dr Ezekiel Agbalagba, the ASUU  branch chairman, Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun, Delta said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri on Wednesday.
Agbalagba said that the university body had series of outstanding agreements with the government which had not been honoured.
Recall that ASUU had on Monday directed its members to down tools and embark on an indefinite strike.
ASUU had on March 9, 2020 declared a warning strike over the stoppage of the salaries of members of the union for refusing to enroll in the Integrated Personal Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) platform.
The leadership of the union also said that the Federal Government had failed to address the outstanding issues raised at the meeting it had with government representatives in 2019.
“We are not moved. There is total compliance to the strike order by ASUU in FUPRE.
“The strike is going to be indefinite until government does the needful.
“Government signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ASUU and has refused to honour the agreement. It is sad,” he said.
The ASUU chairman added that only two of its members in FUPRE had enrolled in IPPIS as directed by the Federal Government.
“They were shortchanged in their salaries,” he said. (NAN)
EDI/OSA
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Edited by Shittu Obassa/Emmanuel Yashim
General news

IPPIS: ASUU suspends proposed strike

IPPIS: ASUU suspends proposed strike

ASUU
By Tosin Kolade

Abuja, Oct. 31, 2019 (NAN) The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its proposed strike over Federal Government’s directive to enroll its members into the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that when President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2020 budget proposal before lawmakers on Oct. 8, 2019, he vowed that Federal Government Employees not captured on the IPPIS platform by 31st Oct. 2019 would no longer be receiving their salaries.

ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, in a phone interview, noted that the union had decided to maintain status quo, pending further meetings.

ASUU had at different fora rejected the deadline, stating that universities operated differently from the civil service and should, therefore, not be seen as appendages of ministries, departments and agencies of government.

“What we have been saying is that the reaction of our members will depend on what happens in the government. Our members will meet at the appropriate time to take appropriate decision.

“The Senate has intervened in the matter and we are engaging the Senate, the Senate has appealed to us for now, When they pay other workers, they pay them also.”

According to him, the union is proposing another template which would factor in the peculiarities of the universities and promote their interest.

“The point we are making is that we have visited the Senate President, told him that there is an alternative to IPPIS, the IPPIS as we see it, will not promote the interest of the university, there is no university or country in the world where the payment of university workers is centralised with the government.”

On the World University ranking, Ogunyemi stressed that enrolling its members would affect Nigeria’s status, and discourage visiting lecturers come into the system.

“IPPIS will affect our ranking, because now scholars from different parts of the world will not be encouraged to come to Nigeria.

“Imagine somebody come for short six months and because of IPPIS he is not paid from three to four months, whereas, if they are domesticated in the universities, ASUU will pay them.

“Any university can attract scholars from any part of the world and you do not expect scholars to come from India, China, Australia, America or UK and be coming into Abuja to enroll in IPPIS.

“It is ridiculous, and that is what the autonomy means, that universities should govern their personnel, and their pay role system.

“We are saying it is not safe, we are going to become a laughing stock among committee of universities.

“In Ghana, there is something like IPPIS, but universities are not part of it. There is nowhere in the world that payroll is centralised and managed by consultants.”

He, however, noted that what the union wanted was a “Governing Council’ that would govern and manage the payroll of ASUU members.

“If government does that, it is the council that the government will hold responsible, that is what the law says, and where a council is found to be corrupt, or incompetent, that council should be dissolved and another council should be put in place.

“Our proposal is that there should be a mechanism that will enable the government to monitor the payroll system and the personnel. At the appropriate time, we will release it to the Nigerian public.

“The mechanism, when we centralise the payroll system of academics in Nigeria, you are taking a risk, cyber criminals can break into it at any time.

“There is nothing you put on the internet that cannot be hacked and that is not accessible in any part of the world.”

He stressed that the IPPIS will erode autonomy of the union, noting that the universities are unique environment, and are called “universal cities, because they are universal market places of ideas.” (NAN)

TAK/WOJ

Edited by Wale Ojetimi
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Metro

ASUP may consider IPPIS enrolment for members

 

 

IPPIS
By Tosin Kolade

Abuja, Oct. 23, 2019 (NAN) The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), has hinted that the body was considering the enrolment of its members into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) to promote industrial peace and harmony.

Its National President, Mr Usman Dutse, at the end of an Emergency meeting with officials of the Accountant General of the Federation in Abuja, said the union’s fears had been allayed.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), recalls that the body had all along expressed its reservations on joining the scheme, citing the autonomy it enjoyed as well as the peculiarities associated with the academic environment.

The body had on Oct. 10, issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to address some of its issues and that of IPPIS enrolment or risk indefinite withdrawal of services by its members nationwide.

But the Federal Government had directed that any worker not on the IPPIS would no longer receive salary with effect from Oct.31.

The President had directed that all Ministries, Departments Agencies (MDAs), drawing their salary from Consolidated Revenue Funds (CRF) should join by the end of October 2019

“Actually, we just finished meeting with the director of IPPIS and his team, they came and made presentation that indicates a template that captured our fears.

“Because in the series of meetings we had with them, we have identified our peculiarities which need to be addressed, and in this meeting we held, they have made that presentation which indicates that they have captured those peculiarities

“They promised that this arrangement will address all our fears and we believe that what they said is going to be implemented because that assurance is given.

“We believe that Government on its own side has promised to address the issues, and we hope that it is going to be executed as agreed and as presented.

“From now, we are going back to our congresses, to our national executive council meeting to present what we have received here, whether it will guide our subsequent decisions and actions.

“Particularly, the issue of retirement age, 65 years has been captured, issue of our allowances also has been indicated, sabbatical, part-time, visiting also, has also been addressed.

“The issue of payment of our promotion and redress mechanism have been indicated in the way they can be addressed.

“Other issues that have to do with promotion and promotion arrears, they have indicated how it can be done.

“Our belief is that, those things are going to be executed as presented, so we present it back to our NEC also, “he said.

On the recently concluded minimum wage committee negotiations, Dutse expressed hope that all state governments would comply with the law and allow workers enjoy the benefits.

He said the body had a mechanism to ensure that state governments also buy-in and promote improved welfare for workers.

“Well it is a welcome development, our major concern is the implementation and government has promised it will implement immediately.

“We believe that they are going to back date it from the time that the president approved the minimum wage.

“So we are expecting that the government will do it without further delay because it is a presidential directive.

“There are measures that will be taken, and I believe that it will not be preempted when the time comes.

“Definitely, with the organised union in conjunction with other affiliate unions and agencies, the right thing will be done for full implementation.”

ASUP Publicity Secretary, Mr Chris Nkoro, also said that both parties had agreed that Oct. 31 deadline might not be feasible, following the technicalities involved with biometric capturing.

According to him, the peculiarities of the academic environment and other exigencies may need an extension of time so as to allow for all its members to be captured.

Nkoro said the body had also agreed to circulate the resolutions of the meeting in all polytechnics. (NAN)

TAK/DUA

Edited by Dada Ahmed

Metro

Oil sector workers reject inclusion in IPPIS wage system

 

IPPIS
By Tosin Kolade

Abuja, Sept. 17, 2019 (NAN) The oil sector workers on Tuesday rejected a move by the Federal Government to incorporate its workers wage into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (lPPIS).

This contained in a letter by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association to the Minister of Labour and Employment.

The letter was jointly signed by Mr Lumumba Okugbawa, PENGASSAN General Secretary and Mr Olawale Afolabi, NUPENG General Secretary, on Tuesday.

NAN reports that a Circular from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) dated Sep. 7, 2018, directed the enrollment of the Oil and Gas workers on lPPIS, which the

frowned at.

This resulted in series of meetings to proffer ways to address the matter, at the end of the meetings; a Technical Committee was set up by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to assess the Unions’ concerns regarding its implementation.

“It is pertinent to state that this Committee is yet to meet as we write, unfortunately, we have been inundated again by the threat from the Office of the OAGF, via a Circular with reference
number OAGF/IPPIS/93/1187, dated 29th August 2019 to stop the salaries of our members, come October 2019.

“We reaffirm that we are not against the Government Policy regarding IPPIS, but we wish refer to the existence of Government Integrated Financial Management information System (GIFMIS) platform which is run by the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

According to the statement, GIFMIS was already serving a similar purpose and the Presidential initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) whose responsibility, is to audit the nominal and payroll of Agencies as recently emphasised by the Minister of Finance.

It noted that the unions have therefore directed its members in affected regulatory agencies not to provide any information concerning personnel payment and allowances to the Accountant-General’s Office for the purpose of lPPIS, until the Technical Committee meets.

“We are also putting all the implementing agencies of government on notice that if our salaries are stopped without clarification of the issues raised; we will be left with no other option than to withdraw our services without any further notice.” (NAN)

TAK/OYE/SH

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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza

Economy

(Video) NAN Economic News Summary for Mon., July 16, 2018

  • 1.The Federal Government says it has saved more than N218 billion from personnel cost since the introduction of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System.

The Payroll System’s Director, Mr Olusegun Olufehinti, said N67 billion was saved in 2017.

He said the new payment system helped at least 92 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), which would have been unable to pay salaries due to deficits in their budgets.

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2.The Federal Inland Revenue Service says it realised over N2.5 trillion from tax collation in the first half of 2018 and has already achieved 75 per cent of its total target for the year.

This is contained in the Service’s 2018 Half Year Revenue Performance Report, which also showed that tax revenue improved by 42 per cent, compared with the same period in 2017.

According to experts, the figures indicate that the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme of the Federal Government had grown revenue and the country’s tax base from 13 million in 2015 to 19.3 million in 2018.

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3.Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Oji Ngofa has expressed satisfaction with the current volume of trade between the two countries, which stood at three billion Euros (N1.2 trillion) in the first quarter of 2018.

The envoy said Nigeria was working assiduously to diversify its export base and increase non-oil exports from Nigeria to the Netherlands, in line with the administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

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4.The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development says it will soon conclude its Gold Policy to give backing to gold processing and refining in the country.

The ministry hinted that with the policy in place, companies would be able to set up gold processing centres in Nigeria, while adding value to the economy.

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5.The China National Offshore Oil Corporation has pledged to invest an additional three billion dollars in its existing stakes in offshore oil and gas operations in Nigeria.

Mr Yuan Guangyu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, said over 14 billion dollars had been invested in its Nigerian operations, describing the investment as the most strategic important overseas business undertaking and its largest investment destination.

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